~*~
After Haechan's servants served us breakfast, he and I spent the whole morning helping me with earthbending.
Compared to water, earth was not that challenging for me. We spent only an hour or two learning the basics of earthbending traditional style, which Haechan used, and the rest was combat lesson.
Haechan stopped with his attacks and gave me a salute, "I believe our training has come to an end for today,"
I returned the salute. "Thank you." I muttered.
Ten suddenly burst opened the back door that led to the courtyard that Haechan and I were at, "and now you're mine." He said then lightly punched me in the shoulder.
I winced in pain. My body was still aching from his waterbending lessons.
"We just met yesterday and she likes me better than you." Haechan smirked as he tapped a towel gently under his chin. Wiping his dripping sweat.
"No, she doesn't." Ten's eyes widened, then he eyed me. "Tell him."
I gave him a confused look.
"Would you like to have dinner with me tonight, princess?" Haechan approached me with a smile.
I looked away immediately, trying not to panic because I didn't expect that at all.
"Whoa—" Ten brought his palm to Haechan's face and pushed him away from me. "Calm down, sunshine. Better luck next time."
Haechan pushed away Ten's hand from his face. "You're not possibly dating..." He eyed Ten from head to toe then back to me, "... this one... are you?"
I snickered. "I am."
Ten made a gagging sound, "yuck."
"That's a shame."
Ten gasped dramatically, "excuse you— even the Avatar is drooling for me. But no... I am dating someone else."
Oh?
"Oh," Haechan's face lit up. "So who's the lucky guy?"
Ten smiled, "his name is Johnny." he said proudly.
OH.
"Johnny?" Haechan raised his eyebrow. "Don't know him, but I don't see no ring on her finger. So—"
"You're dating Johnny? The werewolf?" I asked, ignoring Haechan.
"Don't you dare tell the others. Not now." Ten threatened me.
Hmm, I wonder why. He couldn't possibly be shy about it. I mean it's Ten. Plus, he has no problem telling me, so why not the rest of the guys?
"Wait—no. I didn't ask about you I'm asking who's the lucky man dating the Avatar??"
"Hmmm, good question." Ten answered Haechan. "Which one is it again, Juli?"
I slapped his arm a bit too harsh and he whined.
"About the dinner— sorry Haechan. I think I need all the time to focus on my bending right now."
"You heard her." Ten grabbed my wrist, "peace out!" Then dragged me out of the courtyard.
~
Ten wanted us to stop at the town's market so he could buy his favorite snack before going to the waterfall for the training.
I was wondering where the other guys were since they weren't at Lee's estate.
"Wait here, be back in a minute."
Then Ten left me in the crowd. I looked around as I waited for him.
There were three kids looking lost, probably homeless, asking around for money or food. They were not far from me, and I wanted to help. Then I realized I had nothing to help them with.
While I was thinking of a way to somehow help them, a guy with familiar purple hair came into view, his back facing me. He bent down to talk to the kids. Then the kids stood up, smiles plastered on their faces. They bowed to Yuta repeatedly before running and jumping in joy.
Yuta stood up, and from his side profile, I could see that he was watching the kids while smiling too.
I gotta be honest, it might have brought me to tears.
"Okay, you're being creepy right now. What are you smiling about?"
I heard Ten and I immediately frowned.
Ten followed my gaze, "aaah the prince of Olympus himself." Ten said dramatically. "But just so you know, I'm still Team Hendery. Since day one."
I raised an eyebrow at him, "Sure."
"What?" He shrugged. "He's the ride or die kind of guy. Though Jaehyun had the best chance..." Ten trailed off.
"Okay matchmaker, let's go." I started to walk away.
~
"You're being too rigid right now, babe." Ten said.
I got up from the river and got to my stance again.
"You're naturally a firebender, I get it. But you're the Avatar." Then he threw a large ice disc directly at me.
I stopped it with my hand and it shattered into tiny pieces. But it hurt my hand like hell.
Before I could even see what the next attack was, another flying disc was about to crash onto me, and it did.
"No, no. We don't do that here." Ten held up his hand. "You're thinking like an earthbender right now. You don't stand your ground and face your attack in waterbending. You lose yourself, and go with the flow."
"What? Am I supposed to just let your ice hit me?"
"No, Mushy. You turn it against me. And don't just move the water. Feel the push and pull."
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, before releasing it slowly.
"I don't get why you're so good at healing and so bad at fighting." Ten shrugged.
"I'm trying, Ten." I got to my stance again.
"Try harder!" Ten sent a large amount of water in full force to me.
Forgetting what Ten had said earlier because I was panicking, I hit the water bullet with my palm and it exploded.
"Still not thinking like a waterbender!" Ten said before attacking me again.
I made the water spin circling myself, acting as a defense. None of his attacks came through me and when I saw an opening, I turned my defense and sent it in full force at him.
Ten got hit by it.
"There you go!" He got up immediately.
Then we ended the training later when we were both exhausted.
Now we were laying on the grass, under a tree near the waterfall. Waiting for the rest of the guys.
"So..." I started. "You and Johnny huh?"
Ten didn't answer me right away. "Yeah."
"He seems like a good guy." I said. "Why haven't you told the team yet?"
"It's complicated."
"Long distance?" I sighed. "I know how it feels."
"No. It's not us. It's everything but us."
I remained silent. Giving him a chance to elaborate more if he wanted to.
"I'm actually engaged." Ten said with a small voice.
I think Ten will give me a heart attack if he continues to surprise me like this.
I took a glance at him. He didn't look happy. I supported myself with my elbows and shuffled to face him.
"Why do you sound so disappointed?"
Ten closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh. "Because I'm supposed to marry Princess Fei. I was about to tell the guys about Johnny but then Fei and I got engaged before the meeting last week."
I know it's part of their culture to have arranged marriages. And as unfair as it sounds, it's really hard to go against it.
"I'm so sorry." I muttered as I squeezed his hand.
Ten smiled, "Fuck— we were childhood friends. But I'm in love with someone else and she is in love with Yuta. We can't say no to this because we don't want to disappoint either of our families. If she refuses she will embarrass her family. If I refuse I will embarrass both her family and mine."
I moved closer to Ten and pulled him into a hug. "That... sucks."
Ten chuckled on my shoulder. "You have no idea." He sighed. "We will have the wedding after the war assuming if everything goes well."
"I wish you can just run away..." I tried to cheer him up.
"I can't leave her to deal with that by herself." Ten said and pulled away from me. "Enough about me, the war is in 2 days. How are you planning to deal with the witch?"
My mind went blank and I suddenly has the urge to throw up.
I really don't know what to say. Because I don't even know how myself.
I just stared at Ten, until we heard bunch of footsteps coming toward us.
"I got an Iris message from Wendy and the girls from the Northern Water Tribe." Xiaojun said as soon as he was close enough.
The guys sat down on the ground next to me and Ten, making a circle.
"More villages were attacked. Mostly small ones." Xiaojun continued. "They even tried to get into the Northern Water Tribe. The witch's monsters army."
"Did they..." Hendery trailed off.
"Of course no. They need more than that to try bringing the North down." Xiaojun answered.
"What else did she say?" Yuta asked.
"She said they will send people here, both the Water Tribe and the Earth Kingdom, to get us to Omashu. The safest place for now that remains untouched." Xiaojun explained. "We'll stay low there. And until the day comes, everyone will meet us on the Capital Island."
The Capital Island, where the Fire Nation Royal Palace was located on.
"We should get ready and pack up then..."
Mark's voice slowly faded away. My head was ringing. I couldn't hear anything but just watched as their lips were moving.
My breath was getting heavier.
"Juli!" Hendery nudged my arm next to me and I blinked at him. "Do you wanna go with us to say goodbye and thank Haechan?" He asked, concern plastered on his face.
"Yeah," I let out a sharp sigh. "Yeah, sure."
"How 'bout you, Ten?" Jaehyun asked as he got up from the ground.
"No thank. I like the forest." Ten laid back on the grass and closed his eyes.
~
I still haven't figured out Avatar State yet.
What am I gonna do? What if I blackout during the fight? What if I mess things up?
I felt a slight squeeze on my palm and I gasped sharply.
We were making our way through the crowd, and Hendery gave me a concerned smile. He guided me so we didn't lose each other in the sea of people and not long after we finally reached the Lee Estate.
We knocked on the front gate but there wasn't anyone around.
Mark was checking the whole ground to see if anything was off, and I gave it a try too.
I was trying to use the seismic sense.
There were a lot of bodies laying on the ground.
My eyes widened and met Yuta's eyes. He nodded, understanding the situation.
"We need to hurry," Mark said.
We all made way for Yuta then he blasted the front gate open.
The guards were down. And I felt no movement on the entire estate.
"Haechan's inside." Mark said, sounding worried.
We all rushed inside and Jaehyun blasted the front door open. Mark led us to the dining area.
There he was. Haechan was sitting at the end of the table. Head down, hands on the table. He didn't even glance at us.
"W-What happened here?" Mark asked as he made his way to Haechan.
Haechan's face was covered with bruises and cuts. His green shirt was torn revealing more cuts and wounds.
"They tortured us," Haechan spoke, his voice barely audible. Then he eyed something on the ground next to him. It was one of his servants, then he looked away shutting his eyes. "I couldn't save anyone." His voice was shaking.
I let out a shaky breath. "Victor,"
"I'm sorry, Juli." Haechan said out of the blue.
"What?" Xiaojun looked at him in confusion.
"Guys—" Mark was about to warn us but it was too late.
Then an inhuman-like creature with flappy green skin, a pointy nose, and webbed fingers grabbed Xiaojun from behind.
Yuta hit the monster with an air swipe projected by his staff and saved Xiaojun.
More creatures came from all entrances to the dining area.
Jaehyun motioned us to get out as he cleared out a path of monsters with his black fire.
"Come on!" I grabbed Haechan's wrist and had to drag him out with us.
We were out of the main house but Jaehyun stopped.
"You guys go. I'll buy you some time."
"No, we can't split up!" I refused.
"We have to! Or they'll just come after us." Jaehyun said. "Now go!"
"I'll help you." Xiaojun said and Jaehyun nodded.
"Let's go!" Yuta grabbed my wrist.
I took a last glance at Jaehyun before going.
Mark was moving by creating earth waves so that he would move faster, so did Haechan. Yuta flew up with his staff. Ten made an ice path from the nearest pond and slid on it. Hendery released flames from his fists and feet propelling himself on the ground horizontally to move faster.
I followed what Hendery was doing.
As we went down the hill, hot air hit my face and the next thing I saw as we were overlooking the city, made my heart drop.
A lot of fire.
The city was burning.
Screams could be heard even from such a distance.
Yuta landed in front of us and we all stopped in unison.
"What are we gonna do now?" Ten asked.
I cursed under my breath and stared at the sea of fire. "Look what I've done..."
"It's not your fault, okay?" Ten said next to me. "Should we just go to Omashu ourselves?"
"It is. I brought them here." I said. "Victor is here, somewhere, trying to find me."
"Then let's get out of here, lure them out of the city." Hendery offered and we all agreed.
Sora arrived along with Xiaojun and Jaehyun on top of her. Yuta must've called her long before.
We all got on top of Sora in the seating area and then she took flight.
We purposely flew too close to the ground, over the city so Victor or one of his henchmen would spot us.
Sora let out a low grunt, probably because we were too close to the fire so Yuta calmed her down and flew higher.
Haechan looked back at his estate on top of the hill.
"I'm sorry, Haechan." I said.
"Never apologize, love." Haechan shook his head and held my shoulder. "But my dad's probably going to kill me."
After a while, we were out of the city, flying above the ocean now.
"Looks like everyone was evacuated, so everything should be fine." Mark said as we all watched the flickering sea of fire.
"That's a lot of fire." Xiaojun muttered.
I can't just stand here and do nothing.
I got up and plunge myself into the ocean from the sky before we could get further away from the city.
~
TEN
Juli had to fucking do it, didn't she?
Hendery and Jaehyun both screamed for her, but I stopped them.
I had a feeling she would do some Avatar shit with the ocean. I mean she better. Tonight's a full moon.
Yuta made Sora stop and we all watched her. She was nowhere in sight for a moment, until she appeared on top of the water, then burst into the sky. Her eyes glowed with bright, white light. She brought up a tidal wave with her. As tall as the mountain, the biggest wave I've ever witnessed a waterbender had created.
It sent chills down my spine.
"She's amazing," Mark gasped.
What does he expect? She is the Avatar.
She extended her arm in front of her, and the wave came at the city in full force. Without washing off any of the buildings, it extinguished the wildfire spreading that was burning the whole city. After a few seconds, the wave came back to the ocean, bringing the monsters with it.
The tidal wave died down and Juli fell down to the water.
I immediately went to her aid.
I got into the water and surfed the wave to the shoreline, where she was at.
She was on her knees, with arms supporting her as she was catching her breath.
She looked up at me before looking away again, "sorry. I know it was stupid. But I had to do something."
Please she's adorable.
I kneeled down and helped her to sit. "Yeaaah you're right," I joked. "But I'm proud."
I meant what I said. I was there and I knew how much she struggled with waterbending. If anyone was proud and thought that it was badass, it's me.
"Not gonna lie it was kinda hot though,"
She punched me on my shoulder.
We both chuckled, "alright, time to go back to us."
I slid her arm over my shoulder and helped her.
I created a waterspout and it carried us up to the sky where Yuta had Sora nearby to catch us.
Juli pulled away from me and sat down.
"Thank you," she muttered and smiled.
~*~
A/N:
QUICK QUESTION what year are you guys born in? I talked to some of you guys and yall so young :,)
Please don't forget to vote if you enjoyed the book. ILY
MERRY CHRISTMAS ♥️♥️
CHEERS